The Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012 - Dr. Synthia Andrews Nd [25]
No wonder kings were consecrated at specific times of the year in specific buildings. It added power to their rule. No wonder shamans had better results with their ceremony when performed on the top of pyramids. No wonder people today are looking toward the wisdom of the Maya. Many are looking for information on what the Maya believed is coming in 2012. Is it possible that part of what is coming is an alignment that will discharge an energy powerful enough to assist our passage through the end times of the Mayan calendar? Many think so and are looking to the world of the Maya for an approach to this transition.
Building Codes
The Maya had several techniques to create alignments. Windows were precisely placed to allow the sun to illuminate desired objects at desired times. Objects were placed in exact locations to cast shadows in very explicit ways. Some buildings were used as sight lines for observation, such as structures at Uaxactun (see next section). Some buildings simply shared an orientation with the directions of planetary risings. Many pre-classic sites are oriented with the constellation of the Pleiades and the star Eta Draconis.
Uaxactun
Uaxactun is located in the Peten Basin lowlands of Guatemala. Its original name meant “born in heaven.” It’s 25 miles from Tikal, and most certainly the two ancient cities traded with each other. Uaxactun flourished during the classic period between 300 C.E. and 900 C.E.
This city ruin is a perfect example of how the Maya used building arrangements as sighting instruments. Uaxactun has one main pyramid that is aligned to a platform with three temples across a plaza. The main pyramid at Uaxactun is called the Jaguar Mask Pyramid. It’s a flat-topped pyramid with stairs on all four sides. Flanking the stairways are huge jaguar masks. Across the plaza is a platform with three temples.
A line of sight crossing the cornices on the three temples marks the passages of the sun. The platform is aligned north-south. From the pyramid, the southern temple is in alignment with the sunrise on the summer solstice, the north structure is in alignment with the sunrise on the winter solstice, and the central structure is in line with sunrise on the equinoxes.
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza is probably one of the best-known ancient Mayan cities. It has a special alignment between the equinoxes and the pyramid of Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl). The pyramid is also called El Castillo.
The temple of Kukulkan is a four-sided, flat-topped temple with stairs on all sides. The axes running through the northwest and southwest corners are oriented toward the rising sun at the summer solstice and the setting sun at the winter solstice. The balustrades on the staircases descend in the shape of an enormous serpent. Twice a year at the equinoxes, the setting sun hits the northeast balustrade wall casting triangular shadows that undulate down the staircase like a serpent slithering down the temple wall. The pyramid has a large sculpture of a serpent’s head at its base. When the shadow of the serpent reaches the bottom of the pyramid, it unites with the sculpted head of Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl). To this day, 50,000 people gather annually to see this event.
The Kukulkan pyramid also codes information from the calendars. Each of the four faces of the pyramid has a stairway with 91 steps. When added to the shared step at the top platform, the total is 365, the number of days in a year. The terraces are divided into 18 segments, the number of Mayan months in the Haab calendar. There are many more relationships